Koichi Tohei Quotes

Pour some water into a tub and stir it up. Now try as hard as you can to calm the water with your hands; you will succeed in agitating it further. Let it stand undisturbed a while, and it will calm down by itself. The human brain works much the same way.

Be vigorous and full of energy, and make ceaseless efforts. This means that little things do not discourage you and that you approach all things boldly and with an attitude of determination.

Practice is not a matter of years and months. It is a matter of concentration.

Let us have a Universal Mind that loves and protects all creation and helps all things grow and develop. To unify mind and body and become one with the Universe is the ultimate purpose of our study.

You must practice to be able to return to essential principles at any moment.

Do not criticize any other martial arts or speak ill of others, as it will surely come back to you. The mountain does not laugh at the river because it is lowly, nor does the river speak ill of the mountain because it can not move.

Power of mind is infinite while brawn is limited.

Even if a hundred ton boulder should fall, I would be safe! When I say this, everyone laughs and wonders how. No need to try to stop it, just move out of the way. You do not have a problem if you do not try to take it on yourself. Most people suffer because they try to take upon themselves things which they do not need to.

After realizing a principle, unless you learn it with your body you cannot expect to get true understanding. Scholars in particular tend to learn in theory only.

If might is right, then the world will tear itself apart. We must strive to create a world in which right is might.

They say that a lion puts his all, even into catching a rabbit. You should make it a habit of putting your all into every little thing you do.

There is no conflict in the absolute universe, but there is conflict in the relative world.

When you coordinate your mind and body, you have unlimited access to the wisdom of the universe.

One little light can light 10,000

When a watch is broken you take it apart to analyze what is wrong with it. When a technique does not work, if you analyze it carefully you can always find out what is wrong.

Countless people have attempted to define the absolute power of the world of nature. Some praise it as god, some call it the Buddha, others call it truth. Still others convert nature into a philosophy by which they attempt to sound its deepest truth. Such attempts to define the power of nature are no more than striving to escape its effects.

Our lives are born of the Ki of the universe. Let us give thanks for being born not as plants and animals, but as human beings blessed with a universal mind. Let us pledge to fulfill our missions by helping to guide the development and creation of the universe.

It is as true for individuals as it is for the world itself: everything comes in waves. If you ride the waves of change, you succeed. If you ignore them, you fail. When the wave is down, most people resist it by trying to go up. When the wave goes up, you should go up with it. When it comes down, you go down.